Cigarettes, Rebels And Me, #1 ✔

Chapter 29 [Colton's POV] - Friendship, Heartbreak, Love And Other Drugs

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The door of the car opens and shuts just as quickly, but with a lot of noise.

"Why did you bring her," Ethan mumbles, throwing a glance at Ella, whose facial expression doesn't change; knowing her, Ethan's tone would've hurt her, but she doesn't even look like she cares at the moment.

Her phone pings, and she hastily whips it out, texting whoever.

That's fucking weird.

"I needed her to come," I reply dryly, starting the car. "Now tell me what happened."

"Right," Ethan mumbles, clearing his throat, but I'm unable to see his face. "I need a smoke first."

My eyes widen. "Why? What is happening to you, Ethan? That's not like you!"

"You're one to judge," he snaps at me suddenly, and I feel angry, not because he's irritating the fuck out of me, but because he's right.

I used to hate people who judged and compared, but now I was slowly turning into one of them. That is not fair: neither to me nor to him.

"No, sorry, you're right," I sigh, shaking my head. "But I'm sorry, I don't have one on me. Just tell me fast what happened about Macy; I didn't drive all the way here for nothing."

"She..." Ethan stops, his voice caught in his throat, "Macy, she... she was apparently shopping at a store two buildings away from my clinic, and my car was parked next to hers."

I don't want to hear what happened next.

"Of course, I didn't know that until she bumped into me, all the contents from one of her bags spilling on the ground; I didn't see her face at first, see? But the first thing that came to my mind was, this chick's pretty hot.

"Now, both of us are apologizing profusely, stuffing the contents in the bag, and that's when she looks up with a small smile. I realize it's Macy, and then what? A guy emerges from behind her-"

In the two front seats, Ella gasps out loud and I give out a string of curses.

That two-faced bitch.

"No, listen," Ethan urges, "this was the same reaction that I gave the moment I saw that guy, and the problem was he was good-looking, so I obviously jumped to the wrong conclusion. And then all hell broke loose. I started accusing her of things I now know she hasn't done, accusing her of cheating on me not only once, but multiple times.

"While I'm shouting at her, she looks angry and guilty - maybe it's just me - but then she calmly tells me that it's not someone she's sleeping with, it's her cousin who's come to visit with his family.

"Then she tells that guy to leave, and there's only the two of us."

Ethan's voice cracks a little at the end, but he seems to be holding his composure as I look at him through the mirror.

"She looks at me and tells me that what happened with Drake was a mistake, she was drunk; I knew that already, but it was still hard to hear it coming from her mouth. And then she fucking kisses me! I mean, who ever does that?"

I know Ethan liked it.

He's showing that he's outraged by Macy's behaviour, but I know he's pleased and ecstatic that Macy still has feelings for him, and their relationship wasn't anything casual on her side; Ethan definitely likes her a lot, I can see that.

And it breaks my heart to see both of them in a conflict.

"Pull the car over," Ella's instructive voice breaks my chain of thoughts.